AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION ON THE IMPACT OF IT ORGANIZATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS ON FIRM PERFORMANCE

摘要

Few studies have linked the form of information technology (IT) organization to firmperformance. In this study we view the organizational arrangement of IT activities as a platformfor developing complementary IT capabilities. By using the concept of strategic fit, we argue thatthe approach to organizing IT activities may have a positive effect on firm performance undercertain conditions. Through testing our hypotheses on a sample of 798 observations, we havefound that a centralized form of IT leads to positive performance effects when the scale of ITinvestment is high. However a decentralized form leads to positive performance effects when thelevel of firm diversification is high. Our findings thus provide both conceptual and practicalimplications.